EFCC accuses lawyer of bribing judge with N225,000

monjola sotubo

February 19, 2016 11:12 AM

According to the EFCC, Tarfa, who has been charged with obstruction of justice, sent the money to Justice Mohammed Yunusa of the Federal High Court on January 7, 2014.

Rickey Tarfa (middle) with a group of lawyers

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According to the EFCC, Tarfa, who has been charged with obstruction of justice, sent the money to Justice Mohammed Yunusa of the Federal High Court on January 7, 2014.

The lawyer is suing the agency for arresting him and detaining him on February 5, 2016, and is demanding damages of N2.5 billion.

The bribery allegations were made by EFCC agent, Moses Awolusi in a counter-affidavit on the basis of which the agency is urging the court to dismiss Tarfa’s case against it.

“I know from the facts revealed during investigation that the said bribe of N225,000 was accepted and acknowledged by Justice Yunusa in a text message to the applicant, wherein he said, ‘Thank you, my senior advocate,’ Awolusi said.

“I also know that investigations have revealed that the applicant’s law firm was in the habit of asking the Chief Registrar of the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court to assign his cases before His Lordship, Honourable Justice M. N. Yunusa, in furtherance of the understanding between the applicant and the particular judge.

“I know that investigations have revealed that even junior counsel in the law firm of the applicant also engage in corrupt practices of their boss by manipulating the Federal High Court Registry to fix and assign cases filed by them to particular judges.

“In line with his corrupt practices, the applicant collected the sum of $500,000 from one of his clients under the pretext that he was going to bribe some officials of the first respondent.

“That having become totally engrossed in corruption, the applicant has since extended his despicable conduct to the temple of justice, by bribing judges and court officials,” he added.

Tarfa recently attracted controversy when he was escorted to his trial by 90Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN).

monjola sotubo